Russia & US To Hold Nuclear Arms Talks In Late Nov/Early Dec-RIA

Russia's state-run RIA reporting comments from the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stating that the US and Russia are set to hold talks on the New START nuclear arms treaty in late November/early December in Cairo, Egypt.

• News emerged yesterday from unnamed US officials that the talks would resume 'soon', but this is the first timeframe supplied. The New START treaty limits the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles each side can hold and allows for 18 in-person inspections per year of the other nation's weapons facilities.
• The current agreement expires on 4 Feb 2026. Plans for talks on the deal's extension were shelved earlier this year following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• The setbacks for Vladimir Putin's troops in the war has seen speculation of the use of tactial battlefield nuclear weapons increase, which in turn has lent increased emphasis on maintaining and extending arms treaties between the world's two largest nuclear powers.
• The talks on New START also indicate that the Biden administration is willing to enter into negotiations with the Putin gov't, potentially signalling that talks on the war in Ukraine might not be an impossibility between the adversaries.